Installatie 1931 - 1937

Curator: What an austere image. It’s as if geometry has taken over. Editor: The artist has created what appears to be a silent space despite the industrial context, almost desolate but intensely precise in the architectural presentation of an Indonesian factory around the 1930s. This anonymous photography work in our collection dates between 1931-1937, focusing on the architecture in an industrial factory. Curator: Yes, the composition is primarily structured by diagonals, leading from left to right. Notice how the parallel lines form vanishing points, drawing the eye into the depth of the space, and what of the use of light and shadow enhancing the volumes, the rhythm of the architectural components and repeating structures. The photo uses simple monochrome, enhancing the rigid purity. Editor: Agreed, but isn't it striking how much is revealed through the monochromatic tones? One thinks about labor and production through a modernist lens, focusing on the process, raw materials, and heavy social implications. It emphasizes the manufacturing as a system of consumption during a high art craft period of labor. Curator: Perhaps. However, it transcends pure function because it compels you to appreciate form over function, an echo of modernist tenets. We see the aesthetic and abstract forms composed inside the industrial setting in a structured system of design, with geometry being so vital to modern design. Editor: Interesting take! But it also provokes thoughts about exploitation in colonial Indonesia, particularly the work of indigenous peoples in plantations and the economic implications of the colonial regime during that period of time. Even when using photography to take such images. It emphasizes this connection by creating an industrial backdrop while including an outdoor setting of what appears to be trees surrounding the plantation. Curator: A reading that provides the social impact, an element outside pure formalism but useful to enhance what is presented visually, by the photography art. Editor: True. Thanks for sharing this unique viewpoint to connect history with social consciousness in this artwork. Curator: Likewise. Considering the material production that photography offers, it's made me reconsider the intentional choices behind composition and the image's impact as art.